"Fruit for the sightscreen."

India 2017

No apologies from me, but Steve Smith may want to apologise for losing a series after rashly claiming the momentum, or Virat Kohli may want to apologise for losing a series pretty much everyone expected India to win 4-0.

Or, like Nagpur in 2004, is Virat Kohli going to do a Ganguly and refuse to play on a greentop? A pace-friendly pitch for the deciding Test in 2004, a pace-friendly pitch for the deciding Test in 2017. To quote Carlos Santana: "Those who cannot remember Nagpur are condemned to repeat Dharamsala."

Crooky optimistically headlines today's Test preview "Back to cricket after all the controversy". Fat chance, chummy. The wild dawgs of controversy are gnawing on the leash, desperate to announce "There's only one team playing cricket out there. Woof!"

It would be brilliant if the BCCI Pitch Selection Panel's pitch selection backfired and played into Australia's hands, but once again it could all be about the toss. Can't see us good guys winning the Test if India wins the toss.